About Us

What is halfStepup.com?

Talking about something that needs to be experienced is much like reasoning with a grenade…it usually doesn’t work. That being true, let us nonetheless attempt to concisely describe exactly what halfStepup.com is. One might compare the site to a burrito. First, the primary ingredients (meats, cheeses, viz…), and then on to lesser condiment-level elements…

HSU is an online database of Video Music Lessons that anyone can utilize to advance their abilities as a musician. This is the beef.

The entire database is organized with college-like “course numbers”, and every single lesson is available to everyone, all the time. Every week, new lessons are added. And although we began with lessons for only guitar, new instrument categories are also always being created.

HSU is also an extensive library of articles and videos on topics that revolve around music, players, artists, the music industry, and life as a musician. This is the melted cheese.

The Articles section is, like the Video Lessons, updated on a weekly basis. Here, you may find short articles, editorials, opinion pieces, video debates, album critiques, reports from shows and concerts, gear reviews, and everything in between and more.

Lastly, HSU is a community of musicians, all communicating, learning, and sharing ideas with each other on the internet. This is the rice/lettuce.

Through our open Forum, every member of HSU can voice their opinions, ask questions, find answers, and more.

And perhaps most importantly, HSU is absolutely free. This is the special sauce.

In closing, halfStepup.com is a very delicious burrito.

Who made halfStepup.com?

Three dudes from California’s Silicon Valley (duh) started halfStepup.com. Their names are Kristian Habenicht, Daniel Jayo, and Mason Razavi.

Kristian Habenicht is a guitarist, vocalist, drummer, bassist, songwriter, producer, lyricist, performer, educator, and astronaut*. He met Daniel Jayo in high school. Daniel Jayo is a bassist, composer, guitarist, computer scientist, physicist, and astronaut*. He’s also played in many bands here in the Bay Area, and it was through his involvement in the local music scene that he met Mason Razavi, whose own band, AM Project, crossed paths with Jayo’s groups quite often at shows and gigs. Mason Razavi is a guitarist, composer, performer, songwriter, educator, and astronaut*.

Incidentally, although Kristian and Jayo were close friends through high school and college, Mason and Kristian did not meet until they both ran into each other at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where they both graduated with degrees in Contemporary Writing & Production and Music Synthesis, respectively. Jayo attended and graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Computer Science.

A few years after the 3 of them wrapped up their undergrad college lives, they banded together and created halfStepup.com.

*None of these people are actually astronauts, but all of them wish they could be astronauts.

Why make halfStepup.com?

Typically, anyone wanting to learn to play an instrument has only a few options. They must first acquire the instrument, say, a guitar. Then they must either pay a private teacher for lessons, buy books and dvds from which they can learn to play, or attempt to teach themselves through listening to records and playing what they hear by ear.

All of these approaches are extremely effective, and usually only depend on the student’s dedication and work ethic to succeed.

HOWEVER, each of these approaches have their own flaws and difficulties. Private teachers are quite expensive, and sometimes finding a teacher whose style and approach suits you is tough. Even worse, since private teachers are musicians, they sometimes smell. Learning from dvds and books can work, but there is no way to have specific questions you may come across answered, and a book can’t correct you if you’re making a mistake. Also, books can catch on fire, and that’s dangerous. And while learning by ear is fantastic for you, it is often frustrating, especially if the music you like is particularly complex and difficult. And if all that weren’t enough, guess what? All of those approaches cost money. Crap.

All of these problems are solved now that halfStepup.com exists.

First, HSU offers you video lessons made by experienced teachers. You get all the benefits of having a private teacher, except that instead of 1 teacher, you have many teachers to learn from, and at anytime you want. And since it’s all on the internet, there’s no smell.

Unlike books and dvds, HSU has the ability to answer your questions. If you are watching a lesson, and you come across something that stumps you, you need only glance below the video, where you can comment your question directly to the lesson page, where the teacher him/herself can respond. And if you can’t wait, you can view other people’s questions and comments, or go to the open Forum and ask around. Also, since the internet can’t catch on fire, it is therefore far safer to use halfStepup.com than to read books.

And if all that weren’t enough, guess what? HSU is totally free!